(SS) Alba v. Commissioner of Social Security ( 2022 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MARY C. ALBA, Case No. 1:21-cv-00599-HBK 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING PARTIES’ JOINT MOTION TO REMAND UNDER SENTENCE 13 v. FOUR OF 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), REVERSING FINAL DECISION AND REMANDING 14 COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL CASE1 SECURITY, 15 (Doc. No. 24) Defendant. 16 ORDER MOOTING PLAINTIFF’S OPENING BRIEF 17 (Doc. No. 23) 18 19 20 21 Pending before the Court is the parties’ Joint Motion to Remand filed on May 24, 2022. 22 (Doc. No. 24). Plaintiff Mary Alba and the Commissioner of Social Security agree that this case 23 should be remanded for further administrative proceedings under sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 24 405(g). (Id. at 1). 25 The United States Supreme Court held that the Social Security Act permits remand in 26 conjunction with a judgment either affirming, reversing, or modifying the Secretary’s decision. 27 1 Both parties have consented to the jurisdiction of a magistrate judge in accordance with 28 U.S.C. 28 §636(c)(1). (Doc. No. 13). 1 | See Melkonyan vy. Sullian, 501 U.S. 89, 97-98 (1991) (addressing issue of attorney’s fees under 2 | the Equal Access to Justice Act and calculating deadline using date of final judgment). The 3 | Melkonyan Court recognized 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) contemplates only two types of remand — 4 | sentence four or sentence six. Jd. at 98. A sentence four remand authorizes a court to enter “a 5 | judgment affirming, modifying, or reversing the decision of the Secretary, with or without 6 || resetting the cause for a rehearing.” Jd. (other citations omitted). 7 The Court grants the parties’ motion to remand. As agreed by the parties, upon remand 8 || the “Office of Hearing Operations will remand the case to an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) for 9 | anew decision and instruct the ALJ to re-evaluate the medical and opinion evidence of record.” 10 | (Doc. No. 24 at 1). 11 Accordingly, it is ORDERED: 12 1. The parties’ Joint Motion to Remand (Doc. No. 24) is GRANTED, the final decision of 13 | the Commissioner is REVERSED and this case is REMANDED for further proceedings 14 | consistent with this Order. 15 2. Plaintiff’s opening brief (Doc. No. 23) is deemed MOOT. 16 3. A motion for attorneys’ fees may be filed by separate motion. 17 4. The Clerk shall enter judgment in favor of Plaintiff, terminate all deadlines, and close 18 || this case. | Dated: _ May 25,2022 law Nh. fareh Base □□□ 20 HELENA M. BARCH-KUCHTA UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 22 23 24 25 26 27 28